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September 2013 Archive

Today is my birthday and to celebrate I thought it would be fun to do my first giveaway to one of my new blog followers!

How does a nice gift certificate to Perfectly Imperfect on the square in Troy sound? For those of you out of town, don’t worry there is an awesome online shop as well!! Shaunna West, is a sweet friend of mine & one amazing gal that has an amazing blog, beautiful storefront & online shop. She is such an inspiration and encouragement to so many and I am thankful to have known her my entire life AND to be her future neighbor! We have a pretty neat session coming in the near future, so you will get to know more about her soon; for now, just know she’s amazing! Ok, here’s the deal…..to enter, simply leave a comment here on the blog under this post’s comments section telling me your favorite birthday gift ever!! For additional entries, like Candace Nelson Photography Facebook page and share this post on Facebook , then come back here and leave a comment telling me that you shared the love! I hope to celebrate all week, so the giveaway ends Friday at 12pm CST.

P.S. – I plan to do more giveaways of some of my favorite things all along the way, so stay tuned!!!

Casey and Riley are married and they are having the time of their lives and living the life of newlyweds in Birmingham, Al. I am so excited to share the images David and I captured from their wedding day! After many weddings in various types of weather, this was our first rainy wedding day! We have had a few weddings where it drizzled a little bit, but this was the first where an umbrella was actually involved…David holding the umbrella while I shot and vice versa. I do not think I heard Casey or Riley mention the weather once… they were so excited to be marrying their best friend and wanted to make the most of this once in a lifetime day they were getting to celebrate with family and friends! The rain did eventually stop during the ceremony and they were able to head to the reception in a classic ’28 Packard in style!!

I have known Casey since she became great friends with my little sis, Mindy (who was a bridesmaid!!) and I was able to see Casey often while she attended Troy University. From the first time I met her, I fell in love with her fun, loving & outgoing personality! She’s the definition of an all-around girl and a best friend to many… there is proof of this as you’ll see further in the post when you get to the beautiful bridesmaids and numerous fun friends at the reception!!

Casey & Riley, it was truly an honor to be a part of your w

edding. It was filled with your love for God and your friends and family! May you put God first in your individual lives and may He grow your marriage beautifully each and every day! “We love because He first loved us.” – 1 John 4:19

These images tell the story of their wedding day and in 25+ years these images will still be telling the same story and bringing back sweet memories of the day they celebrated God uniting them together as one!! I thought it would be fun to also allow you guys reading this blog post, to get to know my couples a bit

more… to see just how awesome each and every one of them are!! Meet Casey & Riley:

How did you meet and how long did you date? Tell me your love story.

Riley and I met our freshman year of college, but I SAW Riley for the first time at a fraternity party my roommates and I went to. Believe it or not, I said to my roommate “You see that boy over there?” (and I pointed to Riley), and I said ” I am going to marry that boy someday!” I said that about Riley before I ever met him. We saw each other a couple of times on campus, and danced a few times at the fraternity house (he was pledging Sigma Chi). Soon after becoming acquaintances and figuring out we had a class together there was this week when Riley did not speak to me. I was mortified/sad/confused! I could not figure out what I did to make him not even want to speak to me anymore! Come to find out, it was a week during his pledge ship that he could not talk to anyone, not even his professors. We ended up seeing each other off campus at the end of the week, and he finally spoke to me. I was ecstatic! He ended up telling me what all was going on, and ask me to go to dinner. The funniest part about it is he took me to Lee’s Chinese Buffett. Not the best restaurant to take someone to….but we e

njoyed each other’s company, and his date planning skills imporved after Lee’s. Riley and I began dating in February of 2006, and we never missed one formal or date party with each other. We had been dating for 6 1/2 years before we got married on August 17, 2013 and can’t wait to spend many more together!

Tell me all about the proposal!

Riley and I got engaged at The Vulcan in Birmingham on September 7, 2012! Riley told me he had a charity event to go to for work at the Vulcan that weekend. Me being me, I consistently told him that I did not feel like going and I would meet up with him later. As the week progressed he finally persuaded me to go with him. While I was getting dressed, my roommates were helping me pick out something to wear, which I thought was kind of unusual! One even wanted to “paint my nails” to see what the color looked like before she painted hers, and she knows she is not the best nail painter! After Riley came and picked me up, we pulled up to the Vulcan I asked “Why are there no cars in the parking lot”, and “What kind of event is this”. I am sure me asking all these questions did not make Riley feel good about everything. Eventually,

we got out of the car and Riley told me we had to go to the top of the Vulcan and all who attended the event had to take a picture. As we got to the top, I said “Riley, no one is up here let’s go back down, maybe they are somewhere else.” I am not the best fan of heights…. Well, he got me off the elevator and we walked around to the other side of the Vulcan that faces the city, and that’s when he got down on one knee and asked me to marry him! I couldn’t tell you what all he said to me before he actually asked me, but I did ask him “did you ask my dad” before I said YES! Afterwards, as we were heading to dinner I was ecstatic to call my parents to tell them the good news, but they both would not answer their phones! We pulled up to the restaurant (Veranda) and I finally stopped calling after the 10th time and figured we would go have dinner. As I walked in the restaurant there were both of our parents waiting to congratulate us…. and the tears started flowing! Not only that, Riley surprised me with a congratulatory engagement party at my house in Birmingham with all my friends after dinner! He did absolutely amazing planning this day, and I couldn’t imagine it any other way! Wedding website: www.weddingwire.com/rileyandcasey

What three words would you use to describe the style of your wedding?

Traditional, Sentimental, Beautfiul….if we could add a fourth word, Riley said Lively!!

She was absolutely stunning on our wedding day! In general: Beautiful, supportive, and my best friend. We have a great time together and I couldn’t imagine my life without her.

If you did a “first glance”, are you glad you made the decision to do so? Why?

Yes, this gave us time to relax and enjoy each other. Everything happened so quickly on the wedding day, this gave us a chance to talk and get all of our emotions “stable” before the ceremony.

What is your fondest memory of your wedding day?

Seeing eachother for the first time. It was such a happy/exciting moment. You see eachother and immediatly emotions pour. It was one of the best feelings, and a moment we will never forget.

Did you have something borrowed, blue, old and new? If so, do tell!

Borrowed: My now mother in law’s pearl earrings Blue: I had a blue heart sewn into the inside of my dress next to my heart. The fabric was a pair of my dads blue boxers. He is goofy and wonderful, but that’s why I love him Old: My mom’s handkerchief she used on her wedding day was wrapped around my bouquet New: my beautiful french lace gown

Our favorite detail of the wedding was:

We added a part in the ceremony called “The Blessing of the Hands.” It was a touching detail we did not want to leave out. It is the way we feel about each other- we are each others support system.

Describe your favorite thing(s) about your reception:

All of our family and friends celebrating with us, family and friends are super important to us! We also loved the artist painting our reception venue, the band, flowers, food, awesome photographers, everything! It was my dream wedding, no doubt! I could not have wanted anything more. It was perfect!

What’s next for you as a couple? What are you most looking forward to about married life?

We plan to grow as a couple and strengthen our spirituality, responsibilities, and learn how to balance each other. We want to figure married life out together and everything else that comes in between. We hope to encourage each other to reach our ultimate goals. We consider each other best friends, so getting to spend the rest of our life with a best friend is wonderful. We are both looking forward to a family. We can’t wait to have a family, but we want all of the above to happen first. We just got an 11 week old Maltipoo puppy and named him Jake, he will be perfect for now!!

To see more fun from Casey & Riley’s special day, click here: http://candacenelsonphotography.myshowit.com/caseyandrileymarried